The new Forza Motorsport arrives today on Xbox and PC. After a 6-year break, the American studio Turn 10 Studios returns with a new installment – the eighth, specifically – of Microsoft's quintessential racing simulator. And it is a return in style with 20 real circuits and a total of 500 cars at launch. Content that will be expanded month by month with free updates.
From Turn 10 Studios they have focused on the basics: making a very good racing game. Everything else is secondary. And they have achieved it. On a visual level it is a scandal, on Xbox Series X Forza Motorsport manages to combine ray tracing with 60 frames per second. As for the gameplay, depending on the preferences of each player, you can go from full simulation to more arcade racing.
Forza Motorsport has always been a franchise with many options. There are no preset difficulty modes, instead there is a very complete menu with dozens of variables. Players can choose from the difficulty of the rivals to the amount of help they receive in each race. The higher the difficulty, the greater the reward at the end of a game.
On the other hand – and for the first time in a game of this genre – Forza Motorsport includes technologies to improve the experience of people with vision problems. A few months ago we dedicated an article to these technologies called Blind Driving Assists (BDA), which could be translated into Spanish as “driving assistance for blind people.” Microsoft has been focusing on accessibility options for many years and this Forza is one of the best examples.
Driving games usually serve almost as technical demonstrations in terms of graphics and realism and Forza Motorsport is no exception. We are facing what could be the most “next generation” game on Xbox. On a visual level it is incredible and works too well on console. Turn 10 Studios has managed to optimize it so that, in performance mode, the game maintains 60 frames per second with ray-traced lighting on Xbox Series X.
The audio is another feat worth highlighting. With good headphones or a 5.1 speaker system it is possible to know which side you are being passed on without having to look in the rearview mirrors. The sound transports you completely into the cabin of the vehicle and allows you to position yourself perfectly and really feel like a driver at more than 200 kilometers per hour. In addition, the sound adapts to the camera and everything sounds very different from inside the car, from outside or depending on the environmental conditions.
Finally, there are the physics and behavior of the vehicle. Cars adapt to climatic and environmental conditions and everything is transferred directly to the steering wheel and control. In addition, among the options that the player can choose, there are things like the amount of gasoline in the tank, which affects acceleration and handling to the detriment of autonomy.
This new Forza Motorsport is a game about options, about choosing and configuring the experience to the maximum. But it falls a little short in terms of content, mainly when it comes to game modes. There are the basics for single player and online: races and time trials. But little more. Plus, there are some strange additions like vehicle levels. The more you use a particular car, the more you will level it up and unlock upgrades. Something that, on paper, sounds great, but ends up discouraging trying different vehicles.
Turn 10 Studios has promised free updates with new content every month. This includes cars, circuits and temporary events such as weekend championships. So these 20 circuits and 500 cars are just the beginning.
The new Forza Motorsport arrives today, October 10, 2023, on Xbox Series X|S and PC. It is also available on Game Pass.
